Warring Fates
by Lawra
Summary: The past is now the present. The future has become uncertain. But Ranma knows one thing, he must leave those fluffy ears alone.
1. Down the Rabbit Hole

"Speech"

'Thought'

#Panda Sign#

Thanks to my prereaders, Frice aka Bree R. and Konsaki. I suggest you go check out some of their work.

* * *

"Pop, what are you doing?" Ranma groaned loudly in disgust. Having had to track her father down to a shrine where she had found him bartering badly with an old priest for a cheap looking good luck charm. The black haired girl had little patience for these little side trips, even if Genma had always had a habit of wandering away to waste money. She had changed out of her white gi earlier in the day for a red button up long sleeved shirt and black pants.

"Don't you see the sign, boy? If I get one of these then I'll find my fortune!" Genma laughed boisterously at his completely serious statement. He sat across from the shrine's priest, the two had apparently been haggling for some time if the amount of items spread out for Genma to choose from was any indication.

"Boy?" The old priest asked, his squinty eyes quickly sizing her up. "My, my you share quite the resemblance to my granddaughter."

"Whatever." She hastily crossed her arms over her bust, failing to hide her newly acquired assets, and unwilling to explain Jusenkyo to some old codger. "And why are you wasting our money on this junk when you should be spending it on a cure?" Ranma kicked her father in his side to add to her beratement. Two weeks stuck with these embarrassing curses, one and a half being chased by an insane Amazon girl out for her head, and here he is arguing over glass?

"A cure comes easier with a fortune!" Her father answered greedily eying the various charms.

"If you have a curse, this incense will help dispel it." The elderly priest rummaged through a box behind him to pull out individually wrapped sticks of incense. "Only a hundred yen each."

Ranma regarded the aged man like a bug to be squashed with her foot.

"Are you sure you're not my granddaughter?" The old man asked unperturbed.

"Very." She had been rather upset to find out that she would be turning from a guy into a girl depending on the water temperature. That wasn't something she had ever considered a possibility, having enjoyed being a man for her entire life up to two weeks ago.

"Perhaps something more powerful?" He wilted under her gaze while trying to come up with something better than incense.

"You got ten minutes." She snorted and spun rapidly on her heel to stalk away from the pair back outside. 'I need to find some hot water.' Having been stuck in her curse form for most of the day, she felt it was high time to return to normal.

No one else seemed to be around the old shrine, so she wandered through the few buildings hoping to find a source of hot water. A very large tree was on the grounds with decorative ropes tied around it's massive bulk. Much of the shrine was run down and really could use someone around to take better care of it. Her curiosity was getting the best of her as she explored a closed off room in the main building. 'What's this place?' She slid open the door to a small dark building. "Bone-Eaters Well?" Ranma read the name printed on a placard outside.

Inside was a platform around the first floor with steps in the center leading down to an old well with the top covered by a few boards. "Kind of creepy." She remarked, avoiding a cobweb that would have gotten caught in her black hair. Even the air itself felt still as though it was waiting for something bad to happen.

"Should have some of those fake good luck charms hanging in here." Ranma stood at the top of the steps, feeling like her curiosity had been satisfied.

Taking a step back, she froze, and a chill ran up her spine, Ranma hesitantly looked down and back. Feeling something rubbing against the back of her calf, she found a chubby calico cat was between her and the door way, looking up at her expectantly.

"Mew?" The feline asked in its horrible demon language and moved closer in what was obviously a move to attack.

Screaming in mortal terror, Ranma stumbled back over the top step, and fell back first through the rotted woods covering the well. Bouncing against the dirt wall, she dropped to the bottom three meters down. "Ugh." She groaned and rubbed at the back of her head. Covering her nose to try and block out the musty smell of decay, she gagged as a freshly deceased scent assaulted her.

"Meow?" The horrible monster cat called down to her, peering over the edge at her with cruel vicious eyes shining.

"Boy, what are you doing down there?" Genma asked gruffly, his bandanna clad head appearing in the opening as well.

Ranma ignored her father, kicking against the side of the old well to try and push herself away from the feline until all resistance suddenly vanished, and she found herself falling. Swallowed up by darkness, multiple hands grasped, and pulled at her spinning her wildly. Her eyes caught sight of a giant snake-like ribcage that rapidly regaining muscles and flesh to look like the body of a centipede.

"I_—_ I live." A woman's voice reverberated eerily, soft blue motes of light gaining in intensity until Ranma could make out that it was a naked woman with six arms pawing at her. Long flat black hair streamed around the demon woman's form that joined with the immense centipede body. "Such tender young flesh." The demon's long tongue snaked out to try and lick at her.

"Yuck!" She twisted around and planted both feet into the woman's face with a kick that sent her flying away from the monster, and back up towards the well. Stumbling as she suddenly found herself standing instead of jumping, Ranma nearly fell back down to the floor.

"Eww!" Ranma wiped at her clothes in a girlish display of disgust. She didn't even care to stick around and find out where the monster woman had went to, jumping straight up and out into bright sunlight. Landing on the wells edge in a crouch with her hands gripping the much newer wood, she blinked repeatedly at the pleasant grassy meadow she found herself in.

"Eh? Where am I?" The damp stinky hut was gone with not a hint of the surrounding buildings of Tokyo. Taking a deep breath, the air was fresh and clean in a way she had only experienced by being deep out in the wild far from any city. "Old man? Older guy trying to cheat my old man?" She called out.

Pouting, she hopped down to the grass to leave the nasty old well behind. "Now where am I supposed to get hot water?" She whined, making her way to a tall tree like the one she had seen at the shrine. If she was going to start searching, she may as well have a visible landmark to start at.

A flash of crimson caught her eye on the opposite side of the tree trunk and Ranma hurried around to see that there was a teen boy held to the massive flora by thick vines that encircled his body. "Hey, you alright?" She asked, bouncing up to land on a vine that made a convenient perch near him. Reaching out, she slapped his face lightly. 'He's warm but not breathing.' She noted, her eyes tracing the small triangular dog-like ears peeking out of his hair on the top of his head, and resisting the powerful urge to check their authenticity.

The boy had long waist length silver hair and wore an odd outfit made from some strange stiff material that was such a bright shade of red it could almost be pink. A very old arrow was buried into the left side of his chest near his heart. "Magic?" She had come across seals and other binding magic before but nothing like this.

Returning to the ground, she sat down to mull over what to do. Obviously she had been transported somewhere far away from the shrine they had stopped at. She needed to find out where she was so that she could start finding her way back. But what should she do about this poor boy stuck to a tree? He certainly felt like he was alive and there was something familiar about the arrow.

Maybe if she could remove the seal he'd be able to give her some kind of information. "Guess it can't hurt." She returned to her place perched on the thick vine holding the boy's body to the tree and gripped the arrow. A small pulse of some kind of power could be felt the moment she gripped the wood shaft. "Well it might hurt you a little." She remarked glibly and pulled.

Suddenly, she was no longer gripping anything, and took her second backwards tumble for the day to end up laying on the grass at the bottom of the tree. Blinking repeatedly she stared at her hands then at the spot where the arrow had been to find that it had vanished. "Today is getting a little too weird."

Regaining her feet, she inspected the boy from her place on the forest floor, and found that nothing had changed. He still waited against the tree, apparently caught somewhere between life and death. "Well I tried." She clapped her hands together as though she wanted to knock off dirt, and turned to find the blade of a katana touching her neck and several men with bows ready to fire.

"What's up fellas?" She asked slowly with a nervous chuckle and a forced smile.

* * *

"Assholes!" Ranma struggled against the thick rope that her arms had been tied behind her back with and and the one that was binding her ankles painfully together. "Put up signs if you didn't want anyone there!" She grunted loudly as she tried to get her arms free.

'Stupid cosplayers.' She had been dragged to the middle of some very old style farm village with everyone dressed in period clothing like it was hundreds of years ago. "I see you acting like you're actually fixing that roof, but I know you're not!" Ranma shouted at a man up on one of the single story, one room homes who looked down at her in confusion.

"Someone gag the rude little harlot." A middle aged woman suggested, covering a young boys ears.

"Do you think she's some kind of demon?" A man asked.

"A disguised kitsune?" A woman added.

"Quick, check to see if she has a tail."

Ranma stared at the gathering crowd with an annoyed expression. That turned into a glare when one came forward with a dirty rag to try and gag her. "Try to put that in my mouth and you lose your hands." She threatened and the man shrunk back to the safety of the other insane villagers.

"Please calm yourselves." An old woman's voice cut through any demands that she be silenced. The few villagers crowding around her parted to reveal a very old woman using a bow far taller than herself as a walking stick. Dressed as a miko, her stern wrinkled face was partially obscured by an eyepatch over her right eye, but the other looked to be working perfectly with how quickly it moved to inspect her.

"You in charge here, old lady?" Ranma asked, relaxing a little.

"My name is Kaede. Answer this, why were you in Inuyasha's forest?" The old miko asked in really formal speech.

"Because I'm lost and you didn't put up signs?" She answered with a shrug.

"Hmm— it's almost like—." Kaede knelt down look Ranma directly in the eyes as though she was trying to recognize something. "My mistake— you couldn't possibly be, not such a rude brute of a girl."

"Hey!" She protested.

"Did she have no supplies upon her?" Kaede ignored Ranma's outburst to ask one of the men who had captured her all because she was trying to be nice.

"None, Kaede-sama."

"Other than my wallet! Which I want back." Ranma interjected.

"I see— perhaps it is hunger that is the source of her agitation. Would you be so kind as to bring her to my home?"

"Of course, Kaede-sama."

"Hey now." Ranma shifted away from the first man to come pick her up. "I can walk fine, just take these ropes off." She added, inching herself away from the second. "And you— ya stupid pervert, if you grab my ass again I'll throw you from the Tokyo Tower." She'd been turning into a girl for all of two weeks and had already been groped more times than in the past two hours than her entire life.

* * *

Golden eyes snapped open at the sounds of tree limbs snapping, accompanied by the loud clattering of a giant insect exoskeleton. Inuyasha reached up to feel where the arrow had been piercing his chest to find it gone. Sniffing at the air, humans had been by recently, and the stink of Kikyo's arrow still hung overpoweringly in his nose. Using his claws, he slashed away the vines that covered his body, and leapt away from the tree towards the clumsy bug demon rapidly approaching his former resting spot.

"Keh, what are you making so much noise for?" He cracked his knuckles, wondering where Kikyo was, and why she wasn't dealing with this low-life demon. Inuyasha needed to find where she was so that he could kill her himself.

The centipede woman rose back up to loom over him. "A hanyou brat? If you are after the Shikon no Tama then you should leave now before I devour you."

"Against me, a bitch like you wouldn't stand a chance." He boasted, itching for any further reason to take out his frustrations on the demoness.

"I don't have time to deal with you. Out of my way." She hissed loudly, rushing closely past him at high speed attempting to intimidate him.

'If she's after the jewel that means Kikyo is here.' Smirking, he followed after the demoness, eager to see the one who had sealed him once again.

* * *

Ranma nearly choked on the bland soup the old miko had given her. She did gag upon the powerful aftertaste that hit her like a truck. 'Who cooks like this?' She wondered in dismay, quickly powering down the food hoping to avoid tasting it any further.

"Would you like more?" Kaede asked as pleasantly as her slightly monotone voice allowed.

"No— I'm fine." Ranma handed the bowl back to the woman and felt her stomach recoil in horror. 'Pop wouldn't even eat that.'

"You are quite strange, child. Finely stitched foreign clothing, your speech maybe that of a man, and you use words that I am not familiar with." The old woman slurped at her soup like it was an actual edible meal.

"These are finely stitched?" She picked at her admittedly cheap red tunic. "Anyways- do you know how I can get back to a real city? Anywhere in Tokyo would be great. Not that I don't appreciate the— authenticity of your village. But I kind of need to find my old man."

"I have never heard of such a place." Kaede answered, looking nonplussed by Ranma's insinuation that this village was just some portrayal of ancient Japan. Or not understanding what she had said. "Is this Tokyo your province?"

'Everything looks like I'm hundreds of years in the past, that shrine completely vanished around me, and this crazy old lady has never heard of Tokyo.' Ranma felt dizzy as she realized what tied all those things together with a neat little bow. "Is there an Edo?" She asked, referencing the name of the city before it became Tokyo.

"That I do know. It is a lengthy journey to get to the coast and not one I would suggest a young maiden such as yourself should make without escort." Kaede answered.

'I'm in the past.' Ranma was shocked into immobility by this acknowledgement.

"Your company has been much improved without crude expletives and carrying on like a disgraced ronin." The old miko reached out to take Ranma's chin between her thumb and forefinger searching her face like she expected to find something. "The eyes are wrong, that's it." She finally concluded.

"What's wrong with my eyes?" She asked in offense, not knowing what to think of the old lady with her occasional weird comment about her looks.

"Nothing at all, you just remind me of someone I knew a long time ago." Kaede admitted with the barest hint of sadness entering her voice. "You are welcome to sleep here tonight. Demons have been active in the forest around our village of late and it is dangerous to be out alone."

"I think I need some air." Ranma was up and pushing through the hanging mat doorway before the old miko could say anything else. She came to a stop immediately upon letting the mat fall back into place. The sky was already getting dark and the majority of the people in this village were retiring for the night so no one had noticed the red clad figure with long silver hair crouched on a nearby rooftop glaring at her with golden slightly luminescent eyes.

Taking a step back, she partially pulled back the mat. "Hey old lady— in that forest, do you know who was that guy stuck to the tree?"

"Do you speak of Inuyasha?" Kaede asked, unsure on why she would be asking.

"Was he a bad or good guy?" Ranma probably should have asked that before trying to remove that arrow.

"That is a difficult question to answer." The old woman answered without fully explaining. "Why is it that you ask?"

"No reason I guess— just that he's glaring at me right now." She shrugged. The old woman said nothing as she struggled to quickly raise herself up off the floor.

Far to the right, wood being smashed and a high pitched scream accompanied a fully restored centipede woman to rise up above the various roofs, her vacant face almost immediately turned to find Ranma. The demon woman's face split into a grin that showed her teeth to be fangs far too long to fit in a human mouth. "The jewel!"

"Do you know her too, old lady?" Ranma crossed her arms and replayed her past experiences with demons. Growing up with Genma, she had her fair share of encounters with minor spirits but the scale of these two were a bit beyond her expertise.

"A mononoke!" A man yelled in panic.

"Our spears and arrows aren't hurting it!" Another cried out as a growing group of men tried to attack the demon.

"Mistress Centipede! But how? She was thrown into the Bone Eaters Well decades ago." Kaede gasped in horror.

'I may have woke her up.' She nervously chuckled and looked away evasively. Wasn't like she had to take the blame for this whole mess. "Guess it's up to me. Dealing with spirits and monsters is a martial artists duty." Ignoring Kaede's warning to hide back in the hut, Ranma took off sprinting towards the centipede demon who was bashing her way through the village, slithering side to side like a snake.

Rearing back, Mistress Centipede's mouth opened even wider before diving at her fangs first. Leaping clear of the attack, Ranma completely avoided the demon to to land on a nearby roof. The demon angrily pulled herself from the dirt to instantly find Ranma's position. "Come quickling, give me the jewel!"

"Gotta catch me first!" Ranma stuck out her tongue and bounded away before the stupid demon got the idea to smash another villagers home.

"What are ya doing, Kikyo?" A grating boys voice asked, to her side and Ranma turned long enough to see that it was Inuyasha easily keeping pace. "Playing with small fry?" He taunted.

"Names not Kikyo." She responded, all but ignoring the other teen as she pushed herself to pull the female demon away from the village. Decided that she was far enough, Ranma slid to a stop on the grass, and faced the approaching woman. Only to find that Mistress Centipede had given up running on her hundreds of legs to simply fly above the ground. "Eep!" Falling flat on her back, she let the demon go flying over her at high speed.

"Phew." Sitting up, Ranma closed her eyes and wiped imaginary sweat from her brow. When she opened them she found that a pair of feral golden eyes were only a few centimeters from her face. "Um— can I help you?" She blinked several times and leaned away when Inuyasha audibly sniffed at her like a dog.

"You're not her."

"So don't care right now." Ranma pushed him away to scramble back up.

"Don't know why I thought you were her, she never ran away like a little girl from a bug." The silver haired boy remarked.

"Little girl?" Ranma snarled, punching the attacking centipede demon squarely in her face with enough force to stop all of her forward momentum. The demons bulk hung in mid strike, too shocked by the strength of her blow to immediately respond. Grabbing a handful of hair, Ranma pulled the humanoid body down to grab in a bear hug. "Take that back!" She shouted, planting her feet, and twisting with all her might to throw the huge form into the stupefied Inuyasha.

"Ah!" Inuyasha cried out in shock as he was bowled over to be crushed into the ground by the demons bulk.

"Well?" Ranma stomped her foot down on the carapace of Mistress Centipede and glared down at the boy in red.

"Wha— wha— what kind of oni are you?!" He stuttered in shock.

"I'm not an oni. Now, are you going to apologize for calling me a girl? Or do I have to beat you some more?" She rudely asked and crossed her arms.

"You hit me with this gross bug over that? You psycho bitch!" The silver haired demon snarled and pushed the centipede off of him.

"Do I have to hit you again?" Ranma got right up in the boys face. "How'd you even get off that tree? Oh that's right, I got rid of that arrow." Not that she would mention that it had mostly been an accident.

She was about to start demanding further apologizes when she heard the rasping of thick exoskeleton rubbing against itself. Knives plunged into her back above her kidneys and Ranma's world exploded in pain. Thrown through Inuyasha and knocking him to the side, she hit the ground and immediately felt a massive weight pin her in place.

"I know it's here!" Mistress Centipedes voice urgently exclaimed from behind her. Ranma writhed on the ground in agony, feeling something rooting around inside her.

"Sankon Tessou!" Inuyasha shouted and the weight pinning Ranma to the ground lessened but at the same time something pulled free. "You dead yet?"

Ranma hissed out a curse as she sat up clutching her back as best she could, feeling warm blood seeping out to coat her hands, and stain her red shirt. Wincing, she took in the dismembered body of Mistress Centipede laying around her. "Why didn't you do that before?" She asked irritably, covered in a layer of gore from the former demon.

"Keh, I was just making sure it couldn't get the Shikon no Tama." Inuyasha snorted and had his arms crossed. "Speaking of which—." The demon boy reached out towards a small sparkling purple sphere that was laying untouched on the grass. A half dozen arrows whizzing past him made the boy jump away and regard a group of villagers with spears and bows.

"Leave it be, Inuyasha." Kaede ordered. "The seal upon you should have lasted forever but it can always be reapplied." The elderly woman nocked an arrow to her bow, her left hand now wrapped in a string of dark prayer beads.

Ranma reached out to take the jewel in her right hand the moment she saw Mistress Centipedes dismembered hands reaching for it. As soon as her fingers wrapped around the sphere, the demon centipedes flesh melted from her bones, a dark hissing cloud of miasma rose up, and was dispersed into the wind almost instantly.

"Hand it over." Inuyasha commanded, audibly cracking his knuckles, and showing off his claws.

"Or what?" Ranma struggled momentarily to get to her feet, feeling light headed from the sudden blood loss.

"And I might not kill—." Inuyasha never finished his threat because she had punched him square in the face. "You bitch!" He growled, stumbling backwards clutching his broken nose.

"This thing came out of me." Ranma chided, deftly parrying the demons retaliatory claw strike to harmlessly slash through the air to the side. Stepping forward while he continued his lunge, she kicked out the back of his knees sending him flying up to land on his back. "So until I figure out why you demons want it, it's going to stay with me." She finished with a superior smirk at the surprised boy.

"Quickly, bring the jewel to me!" Kaede instructed after regaining her wits from seeing Ranma take down the demon.

'As if I trust you anymore than him.'

Inuyasha growled deep in his throat and slashed out wildly at Ranma's legs. Retreating back and dodging side to side to avoid claws that carved up the ground wherever they touched, she was a little surprised by his speed. 'He's holding back.' She angrily noted how he would pull back instead of committing.

"Quit wasting my time!" Ranma avoided another half hearted reach for the jewel in her hand to roundhouse kick him in the head. Putting a lot of power behind the kick, Inuyasha was sent flying nearly ten meters lifelessly in the air before righting himself at the last second to land nimbly on the grass.

A barrage of arrows immediately descended on his position, bouncing harmlessly off his red clothing but making him raise his right arm to cover his face. As soon as the brief flurry ended, Inuyasha stood up, and regarded the villagers coldly. "I was going to let you dumb bastards live but not now."

"Such a bother." Kaede moved as quickly as she could to Ranma's side, her hands together in prayer with the beads wrapped around them. A pale violet light enveloped the beads before they appeared on Inuyasha neck. "Hurry, speak the word of subjugation."

"What?" Ranma deadpanned in confusion.

"You may have the strength of a demon but Inuyasha cannot be defeat with fists alone. Only a powerful spiritual force can do the deed. Now speak a word."

"I don't have a powerful spiritual force." She tried to explain but had to knock the old woman out of the way so that she wasn't cleaved into by Inuyasha slashing through the air she had occupied. "Asshole, we were talking." Ranma's eyes flickered to the three meter long trench the demon had created, feeling dizzy from her loss of blood.

"Subjugate me?" Inuyasha scoffed. "You're just lucky I've been giving you a chance to run away."

"You said you pulled free the arrow, you could not have broken the seal without spiritual power." Kaede continued to explain, as two male villagers rushed to help her up.

Gripping the jewel tighter, Ranma stood her ground, unwilling to let her injury show. "Like i'm scared of a— dog like you, you haven't give me any reason to run yet." She taunted, focusing on the guys ears for a brief insult.

"Be a good girl and give me the jewel, it's worthless for a human anyways." He instructed condescendingly.

Ranma narrowed her eyes. "Talk, talk, talk! Keep it up and I'll go get a newspaper to hit you over the nose because nobody ever taught a stray like you to heel!"

She had only meant it as an insult but when she spoke the word 'heel', Inuyasha vanished from before her eyes with a pained scream. Blinking at the vacated space, she slowly looked down to see the red clad form laying face first in the dirt. "Was that the word?" Ranma asked to break the stunned silence. "Heel?"

Inuyasha cried out again as he was driven even further into the dirt.

"Hey that's cool." A big grin spread over her face. "So that's going to happen every time I see heel?" A third more muffled exclamation of pain accentuated her use of the word. "Sorry, sorry, now I feel a little bad."

* * *

Crouched on the roof of a nearby hut, Inuyasha's ears twitched in response to the loud feminine complaints filling the night air. 'Damn that bitch is loud.' He idly tugged at the unremovable chain of prayer beads hanging around his neck. 'How humiliating.' Growling, he was about to go over and give that wench a piece of his mind when she cried out at a pitch that made him cringe.

"Damn it, that hurts!"

"Cease your wriggling." The elderly Kaede chided patiently.

"That strange woman's voice is so loud it'll wake all the spirits clear to the sea." The man whose hut Inuyasha was on irritably remarked from inside.

"We should be thankful that she was here to help. Kaede-sama would have had trouble defeating demons that strong on her own." A woman answered the man.

'Keh, like she had a chance if I was serious.' With a powerful leap, Inuyasha cleared the distance to land directly at the doorway into Kaede's hut. "Alright old woman! Give me the jewel!" He demanded, storming into the dwelling.

Inuyasha paused, finding the girl who looked like Kikyo laying face down on the floor; nude from the waist up. Kaede had her hands smeared with some foul smelling paste that she was rubbing into the wounds made by Mistress Centipede when ripping the Shikon no Tama from the girls flesh.

"Uh— the jewel, where is it?" He tried to recover as a pair of very angry blue eyes turned to glare at him.

"Shut up about the damn jewel already!" She propped herself up enough to kick him in the stomach.

Inuyasha tumbled backwards across the street to come to rest against the hut he had started out on. 'Damn she hits hard for a human.' Undeterred, he charged back into Kaede's home again. "Bitch! Give me the Shikon no Tama!" He demanded, prepared this time for the excessive amount of female skin on display but not for the fist that broke his nose for the second time today.

"Damn it!" He howled at the top of his lungs in frustration, stumbling back out the door.

* * *

Author Notes

Whatever! Whatever! I do what I want!


	2. Horsing Around

"Speech"

'Thought'

#Panda Sign#

* * *

Ranma's blue eyes fluttered open, to stare into the small fire warming her face. She had spent the night in Kaede's small hut, in the center, the little blaze burning in a recessed fire pit helping to keep the morning chill away. The old woman was kneeling across the fire preparing something in a small metal pot. Slowly rising to a sitting position, so that she didn't aggravate her stab wounds, she let the rough blanket fall down from her shoulders. 'Still here, huh?' She had half hoped this was some messed up dream but, like Jusenkyo, the morning after brought no reprieve.

Feeling something cool in her hands, Ranma looked down enough to confirm the small sphere from the night before was still in her possession. 'Jewel of Four Souls- what does that even mean?' She turned it side to side, appraising the soft pink and purple colors swirling within. 'How was this thing inside me?'

The jewel retained a hole cut through it from before Kikyo had been tasked with keeping it safe. Somehow it had survived the cremation of Kaede's older sister to find its way into Ranma's side. A crude string had been pushed through by the elderly woman under the assumption Ranma would wear it like a necklace. But she wasn't really into wearing jewelry.

Noticing that Kaede was watching her with her one remaining eye, Ranma twisted around to sit before the fire and groaned loudly as she tried to stretch her arms. Yawning, she let her arms drop down and scratched at where Mistress Centipede had impaled her. Her entire torso, from stomach to the top of her breasts, was wrapped in a constricting cloth bandage. She had removed her pants, as they were covered in dried blood, leaving her in nothing but her boxers and the wrap.

"Ugh, what time is it?" Ranma asked while rubbing the gunk from her eyes.

Kaede took a moment to think through her question before answering. "It is nearly midday. You lost a great deal of blood; you'll need rest and something to eat in order to regain your strength."

'No panda snoring to keep me up? I could almost get used to that.' Her stomach rumbled at the smell of whatever it was that Kaede was mixing. It didn't matter if what she was making was as bad as that dish from last night because she was starving. "So is that edible?" She asked with a nervous chuckle.

"I've mixed in several herbs that should help with healing." Kaede continued, pouring some of the now thick brown stew into a bowl.

"Thanks." Ranma gingerly accepted the prepared concoction, mentally preparing herself for the horror her stomach would soon be experiencing. "That spiritual stuff you mentioned, what's that all about?" Too hungry to wait for a better option, she said a small prayer to ward off food poisoning, and gave it a try. "This is pretty good!" She exclaimed in relief.

"Are there no priests where you come from?" Kaede asked, clearly pleased by the small compliment to her cooking.

Ranma finished her bowl of stew before answering. "Just old guys waving around bits of paper or selling cheap junk to tourists." She had always been more useful dealing with any spirits she had ever come across, than any priest.

"I've met my share of charlatans in my travels." The elderly woman nodded. "But you shouldn't be so dismissive merely because you've encountered poor examples."

"Maybe." She conceded half-heartedly and slid over to pick up her discarded shirt. "I need to get out of this hut." Ranma winced as she moved muscles that have been ravaged by huge fangs less than twelve hours ago.

'Yuck. Nothings going to get this out.' Her face soured at the torn fabric and stains mixed with gore before noticing that all but a few strips of material remained of the back. Whatever had sprayed out of Mistress Centipede when being cut to pieces by Inuyasha had been corrosive.

"This was my favorite shirt!" She snarled, gripping what little remained of her red shirt so tightly that it nearly tore.

"Where are your traveling supplies? Are they nearby, child?" Kaede asked, watching her with great interest.

"A few hundred years in the future." Ranma simmered over the loss of her shirt. "My pants!" She hastily checked and found them only crusted brown with her own blood but otherwise intact.

"The Well— you said yesterday that you had fallen in, and upon leaving you were in a different place?" The elderly woman asked for confirmation and Ranma nodded in response. "Mayhaps you are from a different world. Brought here through a demons gateway."

"Eh?" Ranma stared doubtfully at the priestess and slid her stained pants on. "Gateway?"

"A link between two worlds." Kaede explained the term like Ranma had misunderstood her. "I've heard that powerful demons are capable of the feat."

"Makes about as much sense as time travel." Struggling up to her feet, she'd start by heading back to the well, and trying to find a way back from there. Running her fingers over the Shikon no Tama one last time, she deposited the jewel in her pant pocket.

"Do you intend to leave wearing only that?" The aged priestess asked in disapproval at Ranma's lack of clothing.

"Not a problem. Thanks for the food and stuff but I need to start getting back." She winced as the muscles in her back protested when she bent over to pick up her ruined shirt. "Cause I'm really a guy." It was high time that she quit playing at being a girl, so it didn't matter if anyone saw her chest like this. "See ya." Ranma waved absently to the stunned elderly woman as she left through the curtain.

* * *

"Hrrm." Inuyasha sat on the highest branch of a tree near the village, watching as the Kikyo look alike left the old priestess' hut. 'Why is she half naked?' He wondered absently as he tried to figure out where she was keeping the jewel. The smell of her blood hung heavy in the air and with how similar it was, he found it impossible to keep his mind away from thoughts of Kikyo. 'Where is she? Is she scared to show her face?'

His eyes never moved off the strange girl as she left stunned villagers in her wake. Most were shocked at her state of undress, some began to pray to her, and a few braver humans approached to give her gifts. But she didn't waste much time, hurrying to leave the village, and head back towards the forest where he had been sealed.

"This'll be my chance." He smiled maliciously and moved into a crouch on the branch, eagerly waiting for her to enter the forest so he could get the jewel without any humans getting in the way.

Somehow his small amount of movement alerted his target and her head turned to look right at his position, even though he was hidden behind a wall of leaves. 'How? I blend in perfectly!' He growled, furious that this look-a-like had the same uncanny ability as Kikyo to locate him. Just as quickly as she had found him, she looked away with clear dismissal at his presence. (1)

'How dare she not take me seriously!?' Launching himself through the foliage, he cleared a fourth of the distance between them. "I'll show her!" Another jump and she hadn't even stopped to prepare for him; continuing to walk like she didn't have a care in the world. Running along the grass, he slid to stop on the dirt blocking her path. "Give me the Shikon no Tama!" He demanded as she blinked at him several times.

"Why?" She asked like the clueless human that she was.

"Because I want it! It's useless to a weak pathetic human like you." He answered and held up his hands to show off his claws for emphasis.

The black haired girl made a show of visually inspecting his claws that could tear her apart before moving up to the top of his head. "So you're some kind of wolf demon?"

"Wha— what does that have to do with anything? And I'm a dog demon not some mangy wolf." He responded defensively and crossed his arms.

"Alright." The girl said as she passed him at a leisurely pace to enter the path through the forest.

"Huh? Where are you going?" He asked in confusion, following at her heel.

"Back to that well, it's around here somewhere, isn't it?" She answered his question without even looking at him.

"Hey you! Stop!" He stomped his way to be in front of her again. "Give me the jewel!" He demanded again.

"No." She stepped around him without pausing at all, reaching out to break a stick off a tree.

"Listen bitch, it's worthless to a human like you, so give it to me and I won't hurt you." Inuyasha snarled and reached out to grab her by the shoulder only to have the stick get pointed right towards his nose. "Are you threatening me with a stick?" He laughed loudly at how ridiculous that was.

"No, I want you to go get it." She waved it back and forth and threw it back the way she had come with surprising force for a human.

Inuyasha leapt after it without a second thought, pouncing on the stick down on all fours the instant it hit the ground. "Ha! I got it, now give me the jewel!" He waved it above his head in victory, before noticing that she wasn't anywhere nearby. "Damn it!"

* * *

Kaede hurried with several men from the village down the path to the bone eaters well. Occasionally she had to use her bow as a walking stick and it made her curse how old she had gotten. 'I'm an old woman, I shouldn't be running around the country side after delusional young ladies who pick fist fights with hanyou.' The men before her cleared a path through some thick brush that created a shortcut towards where the angry shouting was originating.

"Kaede-sama, what are we going to do about Inuyasha and that girl?" A villager named Shinichi asked.

"We must ensure that the Shikon no Tama does not fall into the hands of a demon." She answered evasively. Inuyasha was a powerful hanyou and it would be exceedingly difficult to restrain him by herself.

Reaching the clearing that surrounded the bone eaters well, she was prepared to find Ranma fleeing from Inuyasha. Instead the pair were wrestling on the ground near the edge of the forest. The girl held Inuyasha's wrists as he tried to overpower her and was kicking him repeatedly in the side, eliciting a pained grunt with every blow.

"Leave me alone already!" Ranma shouted and kicked him so hard that he shot backwards to crash into a tree.

Inuyasha launched himself at the girl, knocking her down to slide across the grass together. "Did you hide it here?"

"Don't touch me there!" Ranma's voice screeched as the hanyou dug his hand between her breasts.

"I'm not trying to touch your disgusting body!" Inuyasha answered the exclamation before Ranma staggered him with a headbutt. "Ow!" The hanyou fell backwards to sit on the grass at her feet clutching his forehead while Ranma laid back down to do the same.

"Shouldn't have done that." She whimpered and kicked at the ground in pain.

"Um— Kaede-sama, what should we do?" Another of the villagers asked her in confusion.

"Wait here." She instructed and approached the pair during the brief lull in activity. "Child, why haven't you spoken the word of subjugation?" She asked calmly, believing that it would be easier to convince Ranma to listen to reason than the enraged hanyou.

"Eh?" Ranma blinked up at her then sat up clutching her injured side to narrow her eyes sinisterly at the silver haired boy who suddenly realized his peril. "Heel." She commanded, the beads around Inuyasha's neck glowed brightly before slamming him face first into the ground. "Aww! That's satisfying."

"Bitch." Inuyasha groaned into the dirt.

"Your wounds have reopened." Kaede tiredly noted as she knelt down to inspect the bandages that was quickly gaining a crimson stain.

"It's just a little blood, my old man would throw a fit if I let that keep me down." The overly violent girl waved off her concern. Moving with incredible quickness she grabbed Inuyasha and pulled him up into a standing position.

"Huh?" The hanyou asked intelligently, face covered in blades of grass, and little green stains.

"Listen." Ranma instructed in an overly happy voice, brushing off dust and debris that clung to the red clothing Inuyasha wore. "I'm impressed by how tough you are and I know that you're holding back."

"Uh—." Inuyasha just stared at the girl in confusion.

"But I just wanted you to know—." The black haired girl reared back with her right hand in a tight fist and buried it into the hanyou's stomach. He collapsed over her gasping for air before being roughly pushed to the side so he could fall to the ground. "I don't appreciate being underestimated by some dog."

'She's nothing like my sister at all.' Kaede looked back and forth between the two, remembering how poised and calm Kikyo had been. 'Hmm? Where's she going now?' Ranma ignored a wheezed insult from Inuyasha to head for the bone eaters well while putting pressure on her wound.

"You're in no condition to be defending the Shikon no Tama." Kaede decided to be more forceful in dealing with the child. Surely her parents had at least instilled some manner of respect for elders into the unruly and slightly mentally deranged girl. "You should return to the village with us to recover from your wounds."

"If this doesn't work. Not like I'd have anywhere else to go." Ranma shrugged and leaned over the edge to look down into the well.

'She did say that she came through the well.' Kaede realized, noting that Inuyasha had already recovered and had decided to remain silent for the moment. The hanyou was sitting in a crosslegged position with his arms crossed to glare irritably at Ranma.

"Do you plan to enter?" She asked worriedly, about to advise against it while carrying the jewel. It had already revived Mistress Centipede, and there were far more demon remains contained within.

"Can't hurt." With casual ease, the black haired girl hopped over the wall to plunge into the darkness below.

"Old hag." Inuyasha appeared next to her with only the rustle of his clothing to mark his movement.

"My name is Kaede, Inuyasha." She tiredly sighed and tried to see Ranma but it was too dark. "It has been fifty years so I have aged some, but you knew me when I was a small child assisting my elder sister Kikyo."

"You got old." The boy remarked crassly. "So where's Kikyo hiding at? She must be ancient by now."

Kaede allowed the corners of her mouth to quirk upwards into a smirk. "Have you not figured it out? You've been fighting with her reincarnation. My sister died on the day that she sealed you to the sacred tree."

Inuyasha stared sternly down into the well without retort and sniffed. "She's gone."

* * *

Ranma blinked, unable to see anything in the pitch black well. "I'm back." She smirked, having traveled through a very brief light show of little purple balls of light. Up above there was no view up into the sky, and as her eyes slowly adjusted to the low light, she could barely make out the underside of a roof. Leaping up to the wooden ledge defining the bone eaters well, she heard the sounds of a city muffled by the small building around her.

Remembering what had happened the last time she was here, Ranma double checked to make sure the Shikon no Tama was still in her pocket. "All that trouble over this thing." She snorted dismissively, glad to see that it hadn't resurrected anymore of the demons buried below.

"Meow."

She never saw the feline, but she had the good sense to escape out the doorway and not fall back into the well again. Ranma slammed the door behind her, and kicked up a cloud of dirt as she took off around the main shrine building. While she hoped that she had trapped the vile creature, she wanted to put as much distance between herself and the cat as possible.

Her eyes widened in alarm as she raced around the corner of the main shrine building and had to jump upwards over a startled girl walking in the opposite direction, and slammed face first into a heavy wooden beam. Falling to the ground flat on her back, Ranma groaned in pain.

"Are you alright?!" The girl asked in concern and alarm, quickly kneeling at Ranma's side.

"I've been better." Ranma rose up to a sitting position with a sigh before getting back up to her feet with a tiny hop.

"But you're bleeding." The other girl noted in a casual tone of voice.

"Ya—." She grumbled, considering stitching up the punctures, and unsure of how that would work with how much her size could change with the curse. "You haven't seen a panda around here have you?" Ranma asked, trying to shift the subject away from herself.

"Well yes, but he's actually this bald man with a magic curse. Isn't that really weird?" Kagome asked like she was sharing a really juicy secret.

"That's my stupid old man—." She grimaced, hoping that her old man hadn't done anything too embarrassing. " And try growing up with him. Is he still around here or did he run off to pawn all my stuff?" Ranma asked, knowing that Genma could never be trusted around anything of value.

"He's in our house talking with grandpa right now. Are you sure you're okay? That looks really bad."

"Just an annoying scratch." She waved her hand dismissively and chuckled to herself. Pausing, Ranma took a moment to stare at the girl. "Have we met before?"

"Maybe— you seem really familiar. I'm Kagome." The girl introduced with a little bow of her head.

"Ranma." She answered, feeling unnerved by how familiar Kagome looked, and how she was unable to place where they had met before.

"At least let me redo your bandage, I have a big new first aid kit I'm dying to use something from!" Kagome excitedly offered and got behind Ranma to usher her towards the home on the temple grounds.

'Huh?' Ranma wasn't sure if she should be concerned over Kagome's enthusiasm but she had said that Genma was at her house so went along with the girl.

"Gee Pop, not out selling all my stuff?" Ranma asked snidely upon finding her father eating lunch with the old priest from before, a motherly looking woman, and a young boy.

"You're alive, boy!" Genma laughed loudly and jumped up to slap her on the back. "Where'd you run off to anyways?"

"I fell down a well to feudal Japan, where did you think I went?" She answered in a mocking tone while being completely serious. "Hmm? What are you all staring at?" Ranma asked, noticing that the other occupants to the room minus Kagome were quickly looking between her and the other teenager.

"Sis, she looks just like you!" The young boy announced first.

"Really?" Ranma asked at the same time as Kagome, both turning to look at the other. "Maybe a little." They admitted together doubtfully.

"You're right, Sota. They're almost twins." The woman gasped.

"Wouldn't be the weirdest thing I've dealt with in the past couple days." She sighed in defeat, not wanting to have to deal with anymore surprises for the week. "Ack!" Ranma windmilled her free arm as Kagome roughly pulled her back out of the room.

"There's a mirror in the bathroom, let's go look!"

* * *

Genma watched impassively as his gender cursed child was pulled from the room by a girl who looked eerily similar to Ranma's cursed form. 'Is this a problem? I feel like this could be an issue.' He had been worried about his son, not that he would ever show it. But since it had all worked out in the end, clearly blind trust and doing nothing was the best solution.

'I'm such a good father.' He proudly smirked at his unparalleled ability to raise a self sufficient and amazing child.

"Um— Saotome-san, didn't you say you had a son?" Mrs. Higurashi asked absently.

"I did." Genma nodded.

"He's very—." The woman struggled to find a descriptive word.

"He's a girl! What are you two talking about?" Sota, the young boy stared at them like they were both idiots.

"It's just a Jusenkyo curse." Genma shrugged, having explained the panda curse to them before.

"And I have just the thing to remove that curse!" Grandpa Higurashi announced grandly and held out a crimson omamori decorated with stylized chrysanthemum flowers.

* * *

Inside the changing room connected to the furoba, Ranma stood in front of a mirror beside Kagome, checking to see if they did in fact look like twins. "I don't really see it." She quirked her mouth to one side and cocked her head to the other.

"Me either." The other girl agreed with a similar dubious expression, fidgeting with her hair so it was pulled back like Ranma's was. "A little."

"Whatever." Ranma shrugged, seeing some resemblance but nothing to get worked up over. "So you mind if I use the bath?"

"Of course not, go on in." Kagome didn't even look at her, instead she was digging in a nearby cupboard.

Ranma glanced at the born female with her back turned nervously before stripping out of her clothes and vanishing into the furo proper. 'Finally some time alone.' She struggled to untie the knot keeping the bandages in place for a moment before being able to remove it. Turning her back towards a small mirror next to the cleaning area, she gingerly touched her injury. It was still covered in some of that paste Kaede insisted would help but looked like it was all but sealed up.

'Good thing I heal fast.' She smirked, happy that she wouldn't be bleeding all over her clothes. Starting the hot faucet to fill the rinse bucket with soapy water, Ranma dipped her fingers into the furo to check its temperature and found that it was still quite warm from whenever Kagome's family had last used it.

'When's the last time I even had a nice bath?' She wondered and turned off the water faucet as the bucket filled to the brim. 'It was before we left for China, so it's been streams for two and a half months.' In the past two weeks she had only been a man for three days. 'Least I'm back in civilization so I won't be stuck a girl so much.'

"Ready to get that cut cleaned!?" Kagome announced proudly and slid the door open without knocking.

Ranma immediately froze up, covering her crotch with both hands, and squeezing her thighs tightly together. "Ka— Kagome, what are you doing?" She asked, checking over her shoulder to see that the girl was thankfully still clothed.

"I said I'd check your cut and redo your bandage." Kagome answered excitedly and planted a huge, white tackle box on the floor with "First Aid" printed in bright red characters on the lid.

"It's alright, I can get it." She waved off the girl's desire to play doctor, having had enough of someone who thought they could do first aid getting grabby.

"No, you can't. Relax— I've taken a class." Kagome didn't even wait for Ranma to agree before she had taken the wash bucket, and a big sponge to start scrubbing her back.

"Wait, that's hot water. I'll change back." She moved away in panic, fearing the reaction of being a naked guy in front of a girl.

"Really? Just from this?" Kagome asked curiously, looking at the sponge.

"It should." She answered without much confidence, not knowing exactly how much hot water it would take. The few times she had been able to change back had taken about half a kettle of water before it would kick in.

"I'll just use a little then." The real girl immediately squeezed out all the excess and went back to cleaning Ranma's back. "See, you're fine."

Ranma was frozen, waiting for the change to occur, and then this whole situation would become incredibly awkward. She could feel a faint tingling from where the hot water was touching her but nothing seemed to be happening. 'Must not be enough.' She rationalized, unwilling to consider that the curse had been locked by her recent magical adventure.

"This doesn't look too bad. What did you say happened?" Kagome poked at her back once she was done rinsing off Kaede's concoction.

"I didn't— but a demon bit me yesterday." She was curious just how bad it was if it was healed this much already.

"Doesn't look like you'll need stitches." Kagome noted sadly at the lost opportunity. "So how'd it happen?"

'As if I'd let you near me with a needle.' Ranma had enough hack jobs from her father over the years that she wasn't going to let an amateur give her another ugly scar. "It's a long story— can I tell you when I'm not naked?"

"Aww, I guess. I'll put a bandage over it when you're done in here." The other girl gave her a pat on the shoulder. "So can I see you change?"

"No!" She sputtered.

"When you have clothes on?" Kagome clasped her hands together and pouted. "Please?"

"Maybe—." She agreed reluctantly, figuring it wouldn't be that horrible to do it in thanks for the first decent bath.

"Great, I'll be waiting." Kagome was out the door in a flurry of movement before Ranma really realized what had happened. (2)

* * *

Inuyasha paced and circled the well, breathing heavily through his nose, and with concern and anger warring for his focus. 'That— that— bitch!' He stopped and planted both hands on the wooden edge, growling at the injustice of it all. 'My best chance to get the jewel and finally become a full demon— completely ruined because I took it easy on her for looking like Kikyo!

Smiling cruelly, he looked back in the direction of the village. He could always take out his frustrations on that old hag who had put the damn beads around his neck, and the humans she protected. It would sure show Kaede for taking him so lightly. A couple villagers remained to watch him and the well but she had left to return to her home.

Swiveling his head back towards the bottom of the well, he hopped up to crouch on the lip before jumping in. 'If that Kikyo wannabe can do it, then so can I!' Inuyasha expected to feel the crunch of bones when his feet hit the bottom but instead he continued to fall. Flailing his arms and legs in alarm, he tumbled as the world vanished around him. Everything snapped back into place a moment before he slammed face first into dirt.

Grumbling into the dirt, he pushed himself up into a sitting position, and crossed his arms into the sleeves of his coat. "This must be her fault somehow." He growled and paused to take several sniffs. "She was here." Up on his feet, he launched himself up and out of the well to find himself inside an old building.

Getting down on all fours he sniffed at the ground around the outside just to be sure that Ranma's scent was recent. Pausing, he looked to the side to see a cat peering at him curiously. "What?" He asked defensively and stomped out of the building to find that infuriating woman and get the jewel once and for all.

Immediately he was assaulted by a cacophony of sounds that made his ears hurt. "Argh! Where am I?" His ears wouldn't stop flicking as though it would help negate the cacophony of strange noises threatening to deafen him. He had been in the field surrounding the bone eaters well before, but now he was on a stone path next to a very large shrine building with a green roof. Leaping up to the very top of the structure, he folded his arms, and looked out over a vast city fortress he was surrounded by.

His golden eyes narrowed, put off by the impossible size of this castle complex. "Feh, stinkin humans." He snorted and left the roof to resume his search. It didn't matter if there were ten or ten-thousand humans, nothing was going to stop him from getting the jewel now.

Tracking Ranma's scent to another large building next to the shrine, he continued following her trail inside. He could hear voices from somewhere inside that he was getting closer. Slamming open a door he paused and glared at the human family that turned to regard him. There was a young boy, a mother and father, an old man, and the wench who started all of this.

"Ranma! Who said you could take off without giving me the jewel? Give it to me and I won't tear you apart." He barked and took an aggressive step forward to brandish the claws on his right hand at her. She didn't make any move to follow his order, blinking at him with a stupid expression of confusion and lack of recognition on her face.

"Um— I'm Kagome, not Ranma." The girl answered slowly and pointed to herself.

"I'm not stupid, you can't just change into stupid looking clothes, or change your hairstyle and fool me." He scoffed.

"You there! Why are you harassing my granddaughter?" The elderly man demanded, hopping up to his feet.

"None of your business, old man." Inuyasha immediately dismissed the old geezer.

"Now wait just a minute!" The older woman appeared in his vision and reached up to tug on his ears before he realized what was happening. "Are these real ears?" She asked with intense concentration. "They feel real."

"Let me touch 'em next!" The little boy demanded, jumping up and down next to the woman.

'Wha— what is going on?' Inuyasha blinked several times, not understanding the non-reaction of these humans to meeting a dangerous half-demon. Pushing the woman's hands away he was about to put the human in her place when something hard knocked him over the back of the head.

"Who did that?!" He snarled and turned to see a slightly shorter boy with long black hair glaring at him with familiar blue eyes. The human was shirtless with only black pants and a towel slung over his shoulder but what was really important was the glittering purple jewel being worn as a necklace.

"Inuyasha? What are you doing here?" The teen asked irritably.

"Ranma, you said I could watch you change back." The girl who claimed her name was Kagome pouted.

"Later." The boy waved off whatever weird request the girl had made.

Inuyasha sniffed at the air trying to figure out what was going on. That Kagome girl looked like Ranma but this boy had a very similar scent on top of a strong resemblance. More importantly, he had the jewel. "I don't know who you are but give me the jewel!" He reached forward intent on stealing it away.

The boy slid to the side, grabbed Inuyasha's outstretched arm before pulling him forward, and kicked out his legs. Finding himself airborne, he landed with a heavy thud on the wood floor to stare up at the ceiling. 'That same move.' Ranma had use the exact same takedown on him before.

"Good job, boy." The middle aged man complimented.

"Are you going to calm down or do I have to say the word?" The boy Ranma asked in amusement, leaning over top of him to look down at him in amusement. The jewel dangling tantalizingly close and all he had to do was reach out and take it.

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes dangerously.

"Is that a no?" Ranma asked quickly with a threat hanging in the air.

"Would your friend with the cute ears like something to eat?" The motherly woman asked.

"I don't know, you hungry?" The boy holding the jewel asked like they were acquaintances.

"Whatever." He spun in place up into a crosslegged sitting position and buried his hands in his sleeves. Closing his eyes, he could wait to get the jewel if these humans were going to give him food. Inuyasha had a moment of peace before his ears were grabbed once again. Frowning even further his eyes snapped open to see Kagome directly in front of him smiling hesitantly.

"Sorry." She laughed nervously even though her fingers didn't stop manipulating his ears.

* * *

Author Notes

1 - Dogs seeing colors differently joke

2 - I like off kilter Kagome, I think I'll keep her.


End file.
